Visited one of my hunting buddies yesterday and he, and some other
friends were cooking up some venison tamales.....I was right on time!

They tried to choke me down with some super-hot tamales but my
first comment was "they could have been alittle hotter." That kinda
thing is right up my alley....I love hot food....

All ya gotta do is take some ground venison, mix in what-ever spices
you like and roll'em up into a cigar-shape, roll it in some corn meal, and
Get This........roll them up in coffee filters...yea...tuck the ends of the
filters in so the stuff wont slop out....I never!....Stack them tightly in a
pot with a lid with spegetti sauce or tomatoe sauce  and simmer till done..

I ate a bunch of 'em...they were good...lived to tell about it..........BH51....

Now I gotta tell you BH, coming from an area where REAL tamales are pretty common...
 
THOSE AREN'T TAMALES!!
 
They might resemble them, and they might be good, but they ain't tamales.
 
You ever get out this way, I'll serve you up some real ones.
 

 
Daryl

Hmmmm......May take you up on that, sometime my friend......

Now them I ate, looked just like them what comes out of'a can....
Only they was much better.....and definately Hotter......................BH51....

BH,
 
The ones out of a can aren't real tamales, either.
 
Real tamales start with a hunk of meat (beef, pork, chicken, venison, buffalo, javalina, rabbit, pigeon, cat, road kill, etc...).
 
You cook it in a big pot covered in water with lots of garlic, salt, and other seaonings.
 
When the meat's cooked to falling apart, you shred it.  No ground meat in tamales.
 
Then you mix the meat with chili paste and more seasonings.
 
The masa is mixed with salt, baking powder, some of the broth from the meat, and mixed until a bit dropped in warm water floats.
 
Then you boil dry corn husks until they're soft, spread masa on the corn husk, put a big spoonful of meat on the masa, and roll it up.  
 
Then you cook the tamales by steaming them in a big pot.  Elevate the tamales on a plate turned upside down in the bottom of the pot, or whatever other genius idea you can come up with, and put water in the bottom.  Not enough water to touch the tamales though.
 
My wife described the process much better in an older post.  I'm sure I missed some things.  They're a bit of work, but we usually make several dozen at a time, and freeze them for later use.
 
In the end, they're well worth if IMO.  I could founder myself on good tamales!
 
Daryl

Masa....Hispanic dough made from corn flour..........

Gotcha.....I believe I could mess a kitchen plum'up with that method...
I knew corn husks were involved in the makings of tamales......
We don't see tamales made that way around here....Have'ta try that....
Don't know if'n I can get my hands on any chili-paste...research.......BH51..

For chili paste, boil a bag of red chilies (about a gallon bad full of red chilies), and mash the pulp through a strainer. The pulp will be a paste.
 
I used to do it that way until I found ready made chili paste at a grocery store here.
 
If you want to try it, I could probably get you the paste. It's sure a lot easier that way.
 
Daryl

Look on line, there are thousands of tamale recipes. It's a good thing they take so long to make or I'd eat em every day! I boil the peppers then blend them up in a blender. The secret to good tamales is the lard in the dough. If you can find somewhere that has it fresh its much better than the processed stuff.

lvrlover,
 
Yep, I forgot to mention the lard.  I think we put about a pound of lard to 5 lbs of masa.
 
I like to scramble a tamale with a couple of eggs and roll it up in a flour tortilla.
 
Makes one of the best breakfast burritos to be found!
 
Daryl

Stop!!! I'm starting to drool on the keyboard! My wife lived in Texas for years and we both love Tex-Mex and Mexican food. By the way, Daryl, my parents just moved to Tucson. My mom just couldn't handle the cold winters here anymore. The thing that worries me is that my dad hates hot weather! Can't win for losing I guess.

lvrlover,
 
Tucson's to big and a little too hot for my taste.  I'm about an hour southeast of there.
 
If your dad doesn't like hot weather, he isn't going to like Tucson this summer.  We're not quite as hot here where I'm at, usually around 5-10 degrees cooler than Tucson.
 
Winters (?) are pretty nice in Tucson though.  Mid-20's is about as cold as they'll see most of the time, with usual temps warmer than that.
 
Daryl

Lard?!!,....:undecided: ....1 lb. per every 5 lb.!!!!??...........Hold tha phone!
Perhaps I need to consult my doctor, to see if real tamales is right for me......BH51...

yes indeed they are not good for the ticker but then again they are so good for the heart.